Arrested El Paso CBP Officer Was Allegedly a La Linea Cartel Member

Perez allegedly told investigators that he was being paid $2,500 for each undocumented person he allowed to pass at his inspection lane at the Paso Del Norte international bridge in Downtown El Paso, the special agent testified.

The exact number of smuggled persons Perez waved through his border inspection point was unclear.

The prosecution said that Perez may have been paid as much as $400,000 in a border migrant smuggling scheme dating to December 2023. A cocaine distribution conspiracy case dates from Feb. 5 going back to November 2019, according to the indictment.

Smugglers in intercepted phone calls spoke of “100% guaranteed” crossings because they had “the officer in their pocket,” the agent testified. The names of others involved in smuggling have not been disclosed.

Perez’s attorney Ruben Ortiz suggested at the hearing that the co-conspirators involved in the border smuggling could be lying about his client.

“The cooperating witnesses are telling them (federal investigators) whatever they want to hear for now,” Ortiz said, adding that informers are “pointing fingers, perhaps to gain favor from the government in their own cases.”

Lived Mostly in Juarez

As part of the investigation, U.S. federal agents contacted Mexican agents, who found $18,000 in cash after serving a search warrant at Perez’s home in Juárez, the special agent testified.

“By all measures, he lives in Mexico,” Johnston said of Perez, mentioning that the rest of the suspected corrupt officer’s smuggling profits are unaccounted for.

Migrant Smuggling

The indictment stated Perez was allegedly involved in a migrant smuggling scheme at his post at the Paso Del Norte Bridge going back to early December 2023.

The indictment stated that an undocumented migrant paid $16,000 to be brought across at the port of entry. The investigation allegedly found Perez allowed a gray Nissan Pathfinder to cross the border with undocumented migrants several times.

Perez allegedly entered information from 25 visas belonging to legal border-crossers in the place of the smuggled migrants into TECS (formerly known as the Treasury Enforcement Communications System) the computer system used by CBP at the U.S.-Mexico border to assist with screenings and admissions, the indictment stated. TECS keeps track of people entering and exiting the country and those involved or suspected to be involved in crimes.

The investigation found that the persons that Perez allegedly allowed to cross the border did not match the people in the documents, the agent said.

The Nissan Pathfinder would take the smuggled migrants including children to a meet-up spot outside a restaurant in the 7400 block of Gateway East Boulevard, location of the Ranchland Village retail strip. The migrants would then be transported to other cities in other vehicles, the agent said.

The indictment makes a brief mention of a “proof of life video” taken of an undocumented person by a member of the smuggling group to provide proof of a successful smuggle into the United States. The video was not mentioned at the hearing.

Cocaine Smuggling

The investigation found Perez and a co-conspirator in October 2023 arranged to take eight kilos of cocaine from El Paso to Louisiana and North Carolina, authorities said.

The co-conspirator’s information was corroborated with records from license-plate readers “placed strategically across the United States” that showed the vehicle’s travel across Texas to Louisiana to Alabama and to North Carolina, the CBP special agent said. Hotel records were also found.

After his arrest, Perez allegedly told investigators that the smuggler had already paid him $20,000 for what Perez said were 7 kilos of cocaine and that the smuggler had a drug debt with him for the rest of the money, the agent said.

“I kind of see him as a glorified mule,” who allegedly waved undocumented persons through the border checkpoint, instead of a some type of “mastermind,” Ortiz told the judge. A “mule” is a term normally used to refer to a person utilized to carry drugs across the border.

Ortiz argued to have Perez be released on bond saying that he doesn’t pose a danger to the public. Perez could stay under house arrest with a GPS monitor with his mother in El Paso, his attorney suggested.

Ortiz added that the county jail was not a safe place for his client and that Perez waived his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and voluntarily spoke to investigators when he was arrested. Ortiz mentioned Perez “has a lot of debt,” but didn’t go into detail.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Miguel Torres ordered Perez remain jailed explaining that there was “no question” that Perez posed a flight risk due to the amount of time he spent in Mexico in addition to his alleged association with a Mexican cartel.

Sources El Paso Times, Borderland Beat